Terrible sale photos...why??

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rosssavage

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Just having a peruse through the online brokerages, sniffing out a potential boat purchase.

Looking to upgrade form my 30 year old Princess for something a little newer and bigger. Been browsing Fairline 47/50 and 46, budget c£130k.

Why, oh why, oh why, when you’re selling something the price of a small property, can’t you clear up your s**t before taking crappy, small, out of focus pictures....

I know this has been done to death here a million times before, but seriously....

Make some effort!! I’m willing to jump on a plane for the right boat, but honestly... why even bother? How can I take you seriously if you can’t spend half an hour just tidying the damn thing up..?!? And how do you even take bad pictures these days? Every iPhone / Android does it for you!

Rant rant grrrrrrr!
 
rosssavage said:
Just having a peruse through the online brokerages, sniffing out a potential boat purchase.

Looking to upgrade form my 30 year old Princess for something a little newer and bigger. Been browsing Fairline 47/50 and 46, budget c£130k.

Why, oh why, oh why, when you’re selling something the price of a small property, can’t you clear up your s**t before taking crappy, small, out of focus pictures....

I know this has been done to death here a million times before, but seriously....

Make some effort!! I’m willing to jump on a plane for the right boat, but honestly... why even bother? How can I take you seriously if you can’t spend half an hour just tidying the damn thing up..?!? And how do you even take bad pictures these days? Every iPhone / Android does it for you!

Rant rant grrrrrrr!
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People with more money than sense that have bought a boat found they don't like boating and it is miles away so they just get a Broker to take the pics
 
Lurking under that patina of crap may be a decent boat to be purchased at a good price because many buyers put off by lack of surface shine. A cynical £500 quids worth of professional polish and manicure to shift a boat, could be hiding years and years of hidden neglect.
When searching for a half decent boat and after looking at a sucession over valued polished turds, it is easy to simply not bother with anything that does not leap out and say buy me.
Unfortunately in the end it is footwork and going to see stuff, that will reveal the right boat eventually ?.
 
oldgit said:
Lurking under that patina of crap may be a decent boat to be purchased at a good price because many buyers put off by lack of surface shine. A cynical £500 quids worth of professional polish and manicure to shift a boat, could be hiding years and years of hidden neglect.
When searching for a half decent boat and after looking at a sucession over valued polished turds, it is easy to simply not bother with anything that does not leap out and say buy me.
Unfortunately in the end it is footwork and going to see stuff, that will reveal the right boat eventually ?.
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I doubt it. There may be a crap boat lurking for a good price but the man who can't be arsed to tidy the thing up before taking any photos is hardly likely to be diligent with his maintenance regime IMO.
 
I would guess that the person taking the photos either doesn't care or doesn't understand what buyers want to see.
It's very obvious to a potential buyer, but I have had some very strange conversations with people that think that the "lived in" look is a good one ("lived in" being a stained washcloth being left out in plain view).
 
snowbird30ds said:
It's even worse when the broker paid to sell it takes crappy pics, and why do they never take pics of engine bays? That's the bit I always want to see first.
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+1. What festering nightmare lurks below.
Went to see a Corniche listed with a broker up on the broads, really looked the business in the internal pix, one loving owner retiring from boating etc etc.
Boat was on hard and had been there for some time.
The real warning was ignored .....recently re-upholstered.
300 mile round trip.
All sparkly fine until engine hatches lifted.
Doubt there was single oil or water union down there that had not been weeping or leaking for ages.
Rusty tracks and oil everywhere especially from exhaust .
The bilges had obviously been recently cleaned.
 
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I went to see a Fairline phantom 48 in the south of France. I was there anyway. The owner was going the following weekend but said it did not matter would come a week earlier.

The filth was so bad my girlfriend made a polite excuse and did not go down below. The shower was vile and the mess and filth simply unbelievable. The chap was sitting there having a beer. I did find his spare key for him inside the washing machine rusting. So it is not just the pictures !
 
When viewing boats before I purchased my present boat the best /worse was one with a toilet still with something curled in the pan. Needless to say we didn't pursue that one
My boat when I sold it was presented properly priced reasonably and sold within two weeks.
 
We must also remember people have very different ideas of what is clean and tidy...…. Ranging from the total slob to Mr OCD Man
 
Bigplumbs said:
People with more money than sense that have bought a boat found they don't like boatingand it is miles away so they just get a Broker to take the pics
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I'm trying to understand your logic. What has the 'more money than sense' comment got to do with poor photos a broker takes? Are you thinking that he considers the sense/money ratio before deciding how to take them?
 
Bigplumbs said:
Mr OCD Man
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.......you must mean my chum who ....
simply refused to let anyone use the toilet and the galley was virtually off limits too...
Did not keep any of his boats very long, think the strain of keeping the boat pristine proved to much in the end.!
 
I really couldn’t care less about pictures as when I have made my mind up what make/model I want I will go and take a look to make up my own mind after seeing in the flesh, flashy pictures don’t really tell you much about the overall condition, getting the correct spec listed is far more important to me.
 
Dont be too quick to judge. My boat I am sure would look good for the photos but otherwise is in a constant state of mess. It's a family boat and enjoyed. Under all the mess is is the standing joke among peers that I bought a boat and systematically replaced everything in it anyway. If there is no fault I find it anyway and OCD takes over. But mess. Yes. Plenty of it. Courtesy kids and pets and fun fun fun.
 
so totally agree with the OP, never ceases to amaze me the quality of photos of boats for sale.

However having a business that also sells items folk want to see photos of I can actually confirm that, even with the best auto focus - auto everything camera, some people CANNOT take photos. I have living proof of that...!
 
snowbird30ds said:
It's even worse when the broker paid to sell it takes crappy pics, and why do they never take pics of engine bays? That's the bit I always want to see first.
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Yes thats the criminal bit. Brokers really should know that good advertising material sells boats and, at minimum, that means 10-15 good quality professional photos with a detailed specification. The better brokers also know that a video of the interior/exterior of the boat and some drone shots of the boat underway is a great way to get interest too

The problem of course is that there are dozens of brokers out there who are advertising boats for which they are not an appointed broker and all they do is copy and paste the details published by the appointed dealer and put it out there on the internet in the hope of catching a potential buyer which allows them to claim part of the commission. These guys have no real interest in the quality of their advertising as basically it is a fishing exercise for them
 
I am in total agreement that decent pictures are a must. However, just a thought, alongside Deleted User's thoughts, do brokers have to deal with loads of vendors who aren't really interested in selling their boat, so in turn the broker doesn't spend any time in trying to sell it?
 
Quite a mixed bag of responses there folks!

I’m not denying that there may be a good boat underneath.

It’s just... we’re moving abroad, so I’m looking at boats around Croatia, Greece, Ionia, Aegean etc.. to view a boat is going to cost me what, £500 a shot? Flights, transfers, hotel etc...

I’m looking at spending £130k - in all but the most affluent of books, that is a load of money!

When I’m browsing, if: there is only 1 photo - pass. If the photos are 7 years old (not a great idea leaving a 2012 date stamp in the picture!) - pass. If you can’t be bothered to clean up your crap - pass. If you can’t even be bothered to remove the canopies on the flybridge (looking at one yesterday where they’ve simply popped the camera up under the canopy) - pass.

What do brokers typically charge - 6% maybe? 6% of 130000 is £7800 to not be arsed to spend half a day prepping, tidying and taking pictures instils absolutely zero confidence in their ability to handle a sale. Eg buying in Greece involves a fair amount of beaurocracy, and you can’t be bothered to make any effort to take a few pictures. How can I have any faith in provenance, outstanding finance, title, service / damage history if they fail in the most basic of sales techniques... not for me thanks.

It’s a shame as I could be missing out on great boats, but do you see a £130k supercar marketed in such a way?
 
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BruceK said:
Dont be too quick to judge. My boat I am sure would look good for the photos but otherwise is in a constant state of mess. It's a family boat and enjoyed. Under all the mess is is the standing joke among peers that I bought a boat and systematically replaced everything in it anyway. If there is no fault I find it anyway and OCD takes over. But mess. Yes. Plenty of it. Courtesy kids and pets and fun fun fun.
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+1.
A boat enjoyed by its owner alone is a bit sad ?
On "Ballerina" its the more the merrier, fortunate enough usually to be able to gather a motley crew ranging from septuagenarians to latest grandson of 7 months and his mates..
Not an attractive prospect if you worry about Peppa Pig/ Lego on the floor or rusk in the carpet. :)
A good solid days cleaning normally restores to some state of normality.Also a good time to put all switches back to proper positions, restore all settings on NAV gear and turn bilge pumps back to automatic.
 
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rosssavage said:
When I’m browsing, if: there is only 1 photo - pass. If the photos are 7 years old (not a great idea leaving a 2012 date stamp in the picture!) - pass. If you can’t be bothered to clean up your crap - pass. If you can’t even be bothered to remove the canopies on the flybridge (looking at one yesterday where they’ve simply popped the camera up under the canopy) - pass.
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Agreed - especially as you're having to travel to view them.
 
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